Stoughton steps away

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This article was published 26/02/2015 (4086 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg’s Jeff Stoughton will not curl next season and says he is “stepping away from the game.”

Stoughton — an 11-time Manitoba men’s curling champion, three-time Brier champion and two-time world champion — told the Free Press Wednesday he’s decided “enough is enough” and he will now seek off-ice opportunities to stay close to the game.

“Life, career, family — it’s the right time,” said Stoughton.

While Stoughton was steadfast in his refusal to use the word “retirement,” he sounded a lot like a man who will curl the final two events of his career at an upcoming bonspiel in Grande Prairie, Alta., and then finally, if his team qualifies as expected, at the Players Championship in April in Toronto.

Asked what it would take to get him curling again, Stoughton replied: “Right now? Nothing… I don’t even know what that would be.

“I don’t think there’s anything out there that would cause me to come back.”

Stoughton did not rule out the possibility of perhaps acting as a spare for other teams at the occasional bonspiel — “I’ll never say never to something that might come up” — but he says he’s now more focused on finding off-ice opportunities like coaching or working with a curling organization to stay involved in the game.

“I still want curling to be a part of my life in the future,” Stoughton said. “I still want curling as a big part of my life. Hopefully, now that I’m stepping away, this opens up some doors for me.”

Stoughton joked he might even take over the job of Free Press curling writer. He’d be good at — Stoughton was never afraid to speak frankly over the course of his long career and he often made as much news off the ice with his blunt talk as he did on it with his curling.

Stoughton’s announcement comes after a middling season for his first-year team of third Rob Fowler, second Alex Forrest and lead Connor Njegovan.

The team is currently 11th on the World Curling Tour money list, which would be great for most teams but is not up to Stoughton’s historically high standards. And they are coming off a loss to longtime nemesis Mike McEwen in the semifinal earlier this month at the Manitoba men’s curling championship.

McEwen went on to lose the provincial final to Reid Carruthers, who will represent Manitoba at the 2015 Tim Hortons Brier, which begins Saturday in Calgary.

Of all the statistics Stoughton generated in a record-breaking men’s curling career that spanned three decades, the most impressive was his mind-blowing performance in provincial finals — he won 11 of the 12 Manitoba men’s finals he played in.

It’s a remarkable statistic that speaks volumes about the cool and calm of an athlete who always seemed to rise to the occasion when his was the only game on the ice and the TV lights were at their brightest. In an era when sports psychologists are now ubiquitous, Stoughton never needed anyone to hold his hand — he thrived under the pressure, again and again and again.

Brandon’s Rob Fowler played second for Stoughton on three of those provincial champion squads — and against him too many times to count over the years.

He was succint when asked to sum up Stoughton’s career.

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“It was just an incredible career. He did more than anyone in the history of Manitoba curling. I don’t know there’s much more you can say than that,” said Fowler.

“This province has never seen a dynasty like that and I don’t know we ever will again.”

Stoughton’s decision to step away leaves Fowler, Forrest and Njegovan without a team for next season. Fowler — who also won a men’s title as a skip in 2011 — said he still wants to curl and so too do Forrest and Njegovan.

“We’ll start working the phones, but it probably won’t be until after the Brier before we even know who is going to be available,” Fowler said.

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @PaulWiecek